chickenziggy wrote:from JRS "Q: I clicked the link right when STEP opened up at 12 noon PST, and the server was down. Why?A: Our ticketing vendor had upped their cloud-based server farm up to 20 servers to handle the anticipated load, and brought in several IT consultants to help with the system architecture and load testing. Despite that, when thousands of people go at the same web page at the exact same time, as was the case here, even the sturdiest server configurations can fail (Bonnarroo and Coachella experienced the same problems with their ticket launches this year, in fact.). So, the system sputtered under the onslaught, but the team got it back online within minutes.

Like many of you I was contantly refreshing trying to get into the busy server. Just another EPIC FAIL. This blows!

This one makes me wonder about the accuracy of the information in that email...

Q: When I clicked the link to sign up for STEP after 12:15pm PST, it told me STEP was closed already. How is that possible?A: People signed up for the STEP queue up until we reached 2,000, and we closed STEP sign-ups at that time, which was 12:15pm PST, 15 minutes after STEP opened.

I got confirmation after that, and there are others here that have posted that have confirmations into the 12:20's. So was it 15 minutes of server time after bringing them back online, or did 12:15 just get pulled out of a hat ?

@jecca - you'd need to see both the confirmation page and receive the confirmation email. Check your spam filter, and email Participant Services to see whether you're in the queue via the partiserv(at)burningman(dot)com address.

beer wrote:This one makes me wonder about the accuracy of the information in that email...

Q: When I clicked the link to sign up for STEP after 12:15pm PST, it told me STEP was closed already. How is that possible?A: People signed up for the STEP queue up until we reached 2,000, and we closed STEP sign-ups at that time, which was 12:15pm PST, 15 minutes after STEP opened.

I got confirmation after that, and there are others here that have posted that have confirmations into the 12:20's. So was it 15 minutes of server time after bringing them back online, or did 12:15 just get pulled out of a hat ?

k.

Now that just makes me nervous as we are past the 12:15 pm mark but have a confirmation email in hand. There have been so many errors, who will ever know?

maintaining faint hopes (luckily I still likely have months of time to save up the additional money towards the possible $420+ fee tickets that I may see offered up in my inbox)

homo ardentum wrote:The clock is ticking down to the opening of the STEP ticket sale and we are just minutes away. Tell us when you get in the queue, and better yet, SCREAM when you get tickets! Good luck…

YIIIIIPPPPEEEEEEEEEEEE!!!!!

I have a ticket to Burning Man through step. In the STEP line at 12:03, received offer this morning at 1030 for $420.00, plus fees.

Many, many thanks to everyone who turned tickets into STEP. I am thrilled to attend.

(You know when teenage girls win tickets to a rock concert on the radio, and they are really annoying, you just want to smack them- "why cant they be more dignified?" My head is screaming like a teenage girl. super excited!!! no dignity. feels good.)

“How far you go in life depends on your being tender with the young, compassionate with the aged, sympathetic with the striving and tolerant of the weak and strong. Because someday in your life you will have been all of these.” George Washington Carver

Sounds like some of the 12:03s are getting ticket offers now. Hmmmm.Considering the majority of STEP tickets that will end up being dispensed are already gone, will the 12:04s be getting a chance at a ticket? Maybe by July, if at all?I guess my 12:10 isn't as impressive as originally thought. Damn.

I get a ticket and was registered at 12:03 too. So i think nobody could register at 01, because of the server overload... Then you just have to consider that 2000 "wants" were recorded in a linear way between 12:02 and 12:15, you can calculate a per-minute ratio... 143 persons per minute. So u may have a ticket by registering at 12:10 when 1200 tickets are sold through step ? I think it's not desesperate !!!

Well, I'd think the original 'several hundred' were probably allocated the first day. So maybe this means more ARE trickling in. Either that or the verifying of the list is going slowly and you all in the single digit notification numbers may have a better chance than you thought. Congrats to all the so far lucky ones!!!!

avalon25 wrote:I get a ticket and was registered at 12:03 too. So i think nobody could register at 01, because of the server overload... Then you just have to consider that 2000 "wants" were recorded in a linear way between 12:02 and 12:15, you can calculate a per-minute ratio... 143 persons per minute. So u may have a ticket by registering at 12:10 when 1200 tickets are sold through step ? I think it's not desesperate !!!

I posted earlier that my confirmation email came thru about a minute after I got the successful add page, my email came thru at 12:18. Theres another in this thread that got 12:19 and there are others Ive seen posted that got emails into the 12:20's.

12:15 may be the "official" time for simplicities sake but in light of the times people are posting, it cant be correct.

homo ardentum wrote:The clock is ticking down to the opening of the STEP ticket sale and we are just minutes away. Tell us when you get in the queue, and better yet, SCREAM when you get tickets! Good luck…

YIIIIIPPPPEEEEEEEEEEEE!!!!!

I have a ticket to Burning Man through step. In the STEP line at 12:03, received offer this morning at 1030 for $420.00, plus fees.

Many, many thanks to everyone who turned tickets into STEP. I am thrilled to attend.

(You know when teenage girls win tickets to a rock concert on the radio, and they are really annoying, you just want to smack them- "why cant they be more dignified?" My head is screaming like a teenage girl. super excited!!! no dignity. feels good.)

I'm glad you got a ticket.

I anticipate you doing something highly inappropriate, perhaps even forbidden.

lemur wrote:uhm... youre all talking about the time your EMAIL was sent, right ?

...i dont see how when the email was being sent is in any way connected to anything..especially when hundreds of emails are going out.... seems like readin tea leaves

I can believe that outgoing confirmation emails could be and probably were delayed in some cases.

But, if you re-read my posts on the subject I got my confirmation "page" after 12:15.More specifically, I got my email as I was saving a screen capture of that confirmation page, like within 20 seconds, and that email came thru at 12:18:xx.

Not that any of this really matters though. Theres roughly 2000 people that are on that list, and maaaaany thousands of people that are not. After feeling a bit discouraged after not getting tickets in the main sale and then seeing how everything has unfolded since, I almost feel like the system is working now. I dont have very high hopes at this point that we will get tickets thru STEP due to our time on the list, but we are still moving on like we will have tickets and will continue to do so until early August (because we had to draw the line somewhere).

As I posted in a previous thread, I received my confirmation at 12:01pm. Don't know how I made it through, especially since I used my phone to register. I then received notification to buy tickets at 2:03pm on Friday. Purchased 2 tickets right away.

I also wonder how many tickets will trickle in for those that didn't buy the tickets within the 72 hour window?

@drutter - I sincerely doubt that the majority of tickets that will be distributed through STEP have already been contributed. Every year, a fairly large number of people purchase tickets and then are unable to go for one reason or another (cost, getting time off work, etc etc). People make the decision not to go for many different reasons over the course of the season, they don't all make their decisions by the beginning of March. There will likely never be an avalanche of tickets, but I do anticipate that there'll be enough tickets to get through the backlog and even open the gates again from time to time.

@beer - that's a good way of looking at it. The system is working, it's just dealing with a ridiculous level of demand that we've never seen before (talk about bittersweet…). Hopefully you're able to get tickets sorted long before August (through STEP or otherwise).

@misterdj - hard to say, really. There's a good chance that a fair number of the people who registered on the list on Friday didn't grasp the concept of non-transferable. I've heard from a few people who've asked about transfer of tickets from STEP, apparently their 'friend' got through but doesn't think they'll be able to go. Plus other things pop up - someone who got on the list may have gotten tickets through the directed ticket program (that would bump them off the list though, so it's slightly different), or like one of my campmates they may be traveling starting at the end of the week and won't have access to email for more than a week.

I think there might be some confusion or misinformation about how many tickets can end up on STEP. Right now, BMorg is allowing anyone with extra tickets to sell them back. Once they issue paper tickets in June, NONE of those tickets are eligible for STEP. The only tickets that STEP will accept after June is Will Call tickets. The STEP ticket page is encouraging anyone with ticket confirmations who may want to use STEP this summer to change their ticket delivery to Will Call. STEP ends August 7, so anyone with a Will Call ticket with a change of plans 3 weeks or less before the event has to deal with that whole documentation to change Will Tickets.

Hard to say how many people are Will Call, certainly all the overseas orders. But essentially the bulk of tickets that could be sold back to STEP will happen in the next 3 months. It's going to be slim pickings after the ticket mail out. That being said, there will definitely be some tickets available in August. The people living in communities with the most Burners will definitely see some. I bought one for my daughter after the sell out from a Burner in my town 2 weeks before the event (face value). She changed her plans on Friday night before the event. I had people calling from all over the state of CA to get that ticket. We sold it to a Burner that called from Sacramento as we knew we would be stopping there on Saturday.

We are probably at the end of the 2000 want list as our confirmation and email were after 12:20. But who knows what those numbers mean actually. That could be more about our server more than the order of the queue.